Born in 1971 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, Jason Smith studied calligraphy, lettering and signwriting and completed his degree as part of an illustration class at the Reigate Art College in Redhill, County Surrey, England. He initially developed logo ideas for the famous graphic designer David Quay before switching to the Wagstaffs Design agency in London, where he developed lettering for corporate brands.

After several years of freelance design work, Smith opened his own offices in 1999 under the name of Fontsmith, continuing to focus his efforts on the field of lettering and corporate identity. A range of his own fonts, including FS Ingrid, FS Sophie and FS Joey, have been released by Fontsmith since 2001. His best-known typographical creation is probably FS Albert, a playfully rounded sans serif font, which Smith modified for the document management company Xerox in 2007, in collaboration with his colleague Phil Garnham. The high profile of the Xerox Sans font has gone one to garner even more international attention for the typeface designer.